The Delta Grassroots Caucus (DGC) is a broad coalition of grassroots leaders in the eight-state Delta region. DGC is also a founding partner of the Economic Equality Caucus,which advocates for economic equality across the USA.

Help Advocate for Economic Progress and Equality.
Donate to the Delta Caucus/Economic Equality Caucus.

Delta Grassroots Caucus Events

US Senator Thad Cochran, Mississippi, speaking to a Delta Caucus meeting on Capitol Hill. Sen. Cochran is retiring in 2018. The Delta Caucus and EEC would like to express our deep appreciation to Sen. Cochran for his decades of bipartisan, statesmanlike leadership for Mississippi, the Greater Delta, and our country.

Credit Michael Hibblen/ KUAR News, Arkansas Public Radio; Former President Bill Clinton speaking to the Delta Grassroots Caucus on May 2, 2013, at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, Little Rock

U. S. Senator John Boozman, Arkansas, at a Delta Grassroots Caucus meeting at the US Capitol

Future Interstate-69 Designated a "Corridor of the Future" by the U.S. Department of Transportation

Posted on September 11, 2007 at 05:16 PM

We would like to pass along this very good news from the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department. The U. S. Department of Transportation
(USDOT) has named the I-69 corridor as one of six national Corridors of the Future, according to Dan Flowers, Arkansas State Highway and Transportation
Department Director and Chairman of the eight-state Interstate 69 Steering Committee. This is good news not only for Arkansas but for the many Delta
states where the route of I-69 lies.

Mr. Flowers’ office told us they were glad for us to pass this statement along to the partners of the Delta Grassroots Caucus. We would like to thank Johnnie
Bolin, Executive Director of the Arkansas Good Roads Transportation Council, for calling this good news about I-69 to our attention. Congratulations to
Congressman Mike Ross, the I-69 Congressional Caucus, I-69 Mid-Continent Highway Coalition, Mr. Flowers’ office, and all the other supporters of I-69.

For further information, contact Randy Ort of the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department at (501) 569-2227. Thanks–Lee Powell, MDGC
(202) 360-6347

LITTLE ROCK (9-10) – The U. S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has named the I-69 corridor as one of six national Corridors of the Future,
according to Dan Flowers, Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department Director and Chairman of the eight-state Interstate 69 Steering
Committee.

The U. S. Department of Transportation named the selected routes in an announcement Monday afternoon. The six Corridors of the Future are: I-69 from
Port Huron, Michigan, through Arkansas, to the lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas; I-95 between Florida and Maine; I-15 in southern California and Nevada;
I-5 in California, Washington and Oregon; I-70 from Missouri to Ohio; and I-10 from California to Florida.

“This is an extremely significant step for the development of I-69,” stated Flowers. “The other corridors named are Interstate highways that are already in
existence. The majority of I-69 is yet to be built. This is certainly a confirmation of the need for this highway and the nationwide safety, mobility, freight
movement, and economic benefits that can be derived from its construction.”

Interstate 69 begins at the U.S./Canadian border north of Detroit and extends southward to Indianapolis. The corridor is then in various stages of
development and construction from Indianapolis south through Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas before reaching the
Mexican border near Laredo. All eight states from Michigan to Texas are part of the I-69 Steering Committee that was formed in 1993 to oversee the
development of the route. Arkansas has served as the lead state and Flowers has chaired the Steering Committee since its inception.

Plans call for Interstate 69 to cross the Mississippi River into Arkansas just north of Arkansas City. It will continue westward staying south of Monticello and
north of El Dorado before turning southwestward to Shreveport, Louisiana.

Madison Murphy, a member of the Arkansas Highway Commission from El Dorado, also commented on the importance of I-69. “We’ve known at the state
level for years how this new highway will provide an economic boost for our area,” Murphy said. “Many individuals and groups have worked very hard to
raise the awareness level for I-69, so it’s nice to see that that hard work is paying off by having I-69 recognized nationally as a Corridor of the Future.”

The Corridors of the Future program was created in early 2006 as part of the USDOT’s Congestion Reduction Initiative. Thirty-eight proposals were initially
considered by the USDOT for the designation. In early 2007, that number was narrowed down to 14 projects on eight major transportation corridors. The
USDOT will aggressively support the development of the six Corridors of the Future by accelerating permitting schedules, identifying new financing options
and promoting innovative project delivery methods to “move these projects from the drawing board to completion faster than ever before.”

“Putting I-69 in the same category as those other very important and heavily traveled routes and recognizing the significance of I-69 to this country’s
infrastructure is a huge credit to the work that has been done by the Steering Committee and the I-69 Congressional Caucus, which is co-chaired by
Arkansas Congressman Mike Ross,” Flowers said. “We also appreciate the support of the I-69 Mid-Continent Highway Coalition throughout this process.”